Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson poached French midfield starlet Paul Pogba from French Ligue 2 outfit Le Havre, under the nose of Arsenal chief Arsene Wenger. The 16 year old who has been a regular in the France under 16 national team had been attracting lot of interest from United, Arsenal and Liverpool.However, the arrival of United’s new 16-year old prodigy has created a bit of controversy. His current employers Le Harve have been frustrated at the way United have hijacked one of their star players. Le Havre claim that the 16-year-old was bound by an agreement with the club until at least the end of the 2009/10 season. But United offered big money for the youngster’s services, which forced his parents to cut short that agreement and send their son to England.
This news has also created lot of fire in England because one of United's fieriest rivals - Arsenal were also looking to get Pogba. But they could only watch one of their targets move to Manchester. This signing marks a triumph for Ferguson who hasn't been able to dominate the French market in the past few years due to Wenger's name and his contacts.
What might also frustrate Wenger is that Fergie is trying to add another French star to the squad. His name is Frank Ribery. Yeah, you read it right. United are in touch with Bayern over the transfer of Ribery. It seems United will table a bid of around 35 million for the French star. Although Bayern have so far rejected all offers for Ribery, but my hunch says that he just might choose United over other clubs. What do you think?
The ever lasting saga of Cristiano Ronaldo did finally end with the Portuguese star moving to Real Madrid. But another transfer saga surrounding Old Trafford since the last 6 months has been that of Carlos Tevez.
Carlos Tevez has been very vocal in expressing his desire to stay at Manchester if they sign him on a permanent deal. After much speculation and negotiations about his situation, Man United have tabled the required £26million to retain Tevez's services on a permanent basis. Of course that is a good news for all the Red Devil fans that a quality player of Tevez's stature is staying at home. But wait, it now seems that Tevez has decided to play games with United.
After United decided to sign Tevez on a long term basis, Tevez has announced that he wants an increase in his weekly wages. Rather he has threatened that if his wages are not hiked then he will have no hesitation in joining the rival teams, crushing United's nose.
Currently Tevez earns £95,000 as weekly wages and wants to have £110,000 per week as he thinks that he deserves this amount after 2 years of consistent performance which has seen United win the English league. Mark Hughes has already shown his admiration for the south american forward and plans to bring him to the other part of Manchester. It has also been heard that newly appointed Chelsea coach Carlo Anceloti had a personal discussion with Carlos Tevez and wants him to play for the Blues next season.
Maybe Tevez has decided that pay his employers in their own medicine now. Just like United kept on delaying the decision over his deal, Tevez and his agent Kia Joorabchian are now making United wait and wait and wait!
